Locating a lightning strike at a wind turbine

Abstract

A method is provided for locating a lightning strike at a wind turbine including the following steps, detecting a lightning strike, and deriving a location of the lightning strike based on a measurement of sound caused by the lightning strike. Further, a lightning detection system, a wind turbine, a wind farm as well as a computer program product and a computer readable medium are suggested for performing the method.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for locating a lightning strike at a wind turbine comprising: detecting a lightning flash of the lightning strike; and deriving a location of the lightning strike at the wind turbine based on a measurement of an arrival time of sound caused by the lightning strike at a plurality of sound measurement sensors; wherein the arrival time is measured from a time corresponding to the detection of the lightning strike to a time that the sound arrives at the sound measurement sensors. 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the lightning strike is detected based on at least one determined lightning parameter. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the at least one lightning parameter comprises at least one of a brightness, and an induced magnetic field. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising:
 determining characteristics of the detected lightning strike based on the at least one lightning parameter. 
 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the characteristics of the detected lightning strike are determined based on an intensity of brightness and/or a time duration of brightness. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement of the arrival time of the sound comprises a determination of: a first time duration the sound needs for arriving at a first defined position, and at least one second time duration the needs for arriving at an at least one second defined position. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising:
 determining a location within a rotor plane of the wind turbine based on the first time duration and the at least one second time duration. 
 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising:
 determining a location of the lightning strike within a wind farm comprising a plurality wind turbines based on the first time duration and the at least one second time duration. 
 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising:
 determining at least one sound parameter of the respective sound arriving at the first defined position and at the at least one second defined position. 
 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the at least one sound parameter comprises at least one of: a loudness and a plurality of characteristics of a sound wave arriving at the first defined position and at the at least one second defined position. 
     
     
       11. A lightning detection system comprising: at least one sensor for detecting a lightning strike; a plurality of sound measurement sensors for measuring sound caused by the lightning strike; and a processing unit that is arranged such that the method according to  claim 1  is executable thereon. 
     
     
       12. A wind turbine, comprising:
 at least one lightning detection system according to  claim 11 . 
 
     
     
       13. A wind farm, comprising:
 a plurality of wind turbines, and 
 at least one lightning detection system according to  claim 11 . 
 
     
     
       14. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer readable hardware storage device having a non-transitory computer readable program code stored therein, said program code executable by a processor of a computer system to implement a method according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
       15. A non-transitory computer readable medium, having non-transitory computer-executable instructions adapted to cause a computer system to perform the steps of the method according to  claim 1 .